Climate Business conference blockaded, Brussels. Arrests etc.

For over one and a half hours, hun­dreds of cor­po­rate lob­by­ists wish­ing to attend the annu­al Busi­ness Europe con­fer­ence were pre­vent­ed from enter­ing the Charle­magne build­ing in Brus­sels this morn­ing.

The Cli­mate action group Cli­mate Alarm!, con­sist­ing of activists from Bel­gium, France, the Nether­lands and Ger­many, blocked the main entrance to the con­fer­ence.

Eight activists phys­i­cal­ly blocked revolv­ing doors and shut side doors with chains. Anoth­er group attached loud alarms to bal­loons which then float­ed to the ceil­ing. The group then dis­rupt­ed the lob­by area for over an hour and a half, play­ing music and shout­ing slo­gans: ALERTA! OUR CLIMATE NOT YOUR BUSINESS! CLIMATE JUSTICE NOW!

The block­ade only fell after one of the chains was cut, but even then it took a long time for the police to make the entrance area open for par­tic­i­pants. There was a lot of media, pho­to jour­nal­ists and tele­vi­sion cam­eras.

The police first arrest­ed a man who had noth­ing to do with the action. In the end, anoth­er 25 activists were arrest­ed. One of the detained indi­vid­u­als lat­er escaped police cus­tody.

Busi­nessEu­rope is the biggest indus­try lob­by group in Brus­sels and unites many of the most pol­lut­ing sec­tors. Cor­po­rate spon­sors include Shell, Arcelor Mit­tal, BASF and Daim­ler, who are all known for their anti-cli­mate lob­by­ing.

The police used exces­sive vio­lence by spray­ing pep­per spray into the closed cubi­cles of the revolv­ing dooqrs in which peo­ple had vol­un­tar­i­ly trapped them­selves. The police did this after they had already cut the chains of one door.

More cli­mate action will fol­low!

Please find pic­tures on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/38063808@N06/

See also arti­cle Euro­pean Voice:
http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2009/10/arrests-at-climate-protest/66254.aspx#at

http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2009/10/arrests-at-climate-protest/66254.aspx#at